Record Data
"Louisiana," The American Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1866 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 456.
Transcription
The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 1, 1866.
U. S. Grant, General:
You are doubtless aware of the serious riot which occurred in this city on the 30th. A political body styling itself the Convention of 1864, met on the 30th, for, as it is alleged, the purpose of remodelling the present constitution of the State. The leaders were political agitators and revolutionary men, and the action of the convention was liable to produce breaches of the public peace. I had made up in mind to arrest the head men if the proceedings of the convention were calculated to disturb the tranquillity of the Department, but I had no cause for action until they committed the overt act. In the mean time official duty called me to Texas, and the Mayor of the city, during mv absence, suppressed the convention by the use of the police force, and, in so doing, attacked the members of the convention and a party of two hundred negroes with fire-arms, clubs and knives, in a manner so unnecessary and atrocious as to compel me to say that it was murder. About forty whites and blacks were thus killed, and about one hundred and sixty wounded. Every thing is now quiet, but I deem it best to maintain a military supremacy in the city for a few days, until the affair is fully investigated. I believe the sentiment of the general community is great regret at this unnecessary cruelty, and that the police could have made any arrest they saw fit without sacrificing lives.
P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General Commanding.
